Questions and answers on the Thematic
Strategy on soil protection

Why is soil important?

Soil is literally one of the foundations for our economic prosperity and our
quality of life. All our human activities are somehow related to soil.

Soil is a fundamental and irreplaceable natural resource. It provides the
essential link between the components that make up our environment. It also
performs a number of functions. It produces food and fibre; is the interface
between earth, air and water; stores, filters and transforms many substances
including water, nitrogen and carbon; and it is in fact the most important
carbon store in the world.

Soil also shelters habitats and therefore plays a key role in protecting
biodiversity. Soil's own diversity is an issue in its own right as, in Europe
alone, there are 320 major soil types and within each of these types, there are
enormous variations in physical, chemical and biological properties. It takes
hundreds of years to produce a few centimetres of soil. This key natural
resource is therefore largely non renewable.

What is soil threatened by?

In many parts of Europe, soil degradation is taking place at an increasing
rate, due to certain practices in agriculture and forestry, contamination, urban
sprawl and climate change. Some soil degradation processes are natural phenomena
but they are exacerbated by all kinds of unsustainable human uses.

The loss of soil (erosion) is made worse by inappropriate cultivation
techniques and inadequate cropping practices. The soil becomes less fertile and
the aquatic ecosystem is contaminated.

Soil organic matter, the organic fraction of soil, is very important
for the fertility, structure, water retention capacity and biodiversity of soil.
Soil is also a major store of carbon. Some land management practices help
agricultural soils store carbon and therefore contribute to climate change
mitigation. The decline of soil organic matter in soil threatens soil fertility,
soil structure and the capacity of soil to retain rainwater, and worsens climate
change effects.

Salt is already present in our soil but the vast majority of
salinisation (the build up of salts in soil) is due to the fact that
humans alter the way water moves through the environment by irrigation.
Artificial fertilisers can also add salts to soil. As a result soil fertility
drops and ultimately it may even be unable to sustain hardly any plant
growth.

Excessive stocking rates and the inappropriate use of heavy machinery in
agriculture makes the soil too compact (compaction). This reduces the
soil’s capacity to retain water and to supply oxygen to plant roots. This
in turn leads to soil erosion, increased water runoff and increased greenhouse
gas emissions.

Urban and industrial sprawl and transport networks have sealed a significant
proportion of EU soil (sealing), leading to irreversible loss of fertile
soils.

As a result of over two hundred years of industrialisation, Europe has a
problem of soil contamination due to the use and presence of dangerous
substances in many production processes and poor or inadequate management
practices.

Biodiversity decline: soil biodiversity means not only the diversity
of genes, species, ecosystems and functions but also the metabolic capacity of
the ecosystem[1]. Soil
biodiversity is affected by all the degradation processes listed above.

Several of these threats are exacerbated by the effects of climate
change such as increase in temperature and extreme weather events, and may
accelerate desertification. For example, an increase in rain in some areas will
accelerate erosion, while areas which are becoming more arid are subject to
increased salinisation.

Does soil degradation have an impact on health?

Food and feed crops may uptake soil contaminants. This may affect the quality
of products which circulate within the internal market and, in due course, the
human and animal health in the EU. Landslides can also lead to casualties.

What is the extent of the problem?

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in soil
degradation processes. These processes are likely to further accelerate if
nothing is done to protect soil.

Erosion: 115 million ha (12% of Europe’s total land area) are
affected by water erosion and 42 million ha are affected by wind erosion, 2% of
which are severely affected.

Organic matter decline: Around 45% of soils in Europe have low or very
low organic matter content (0-2% organic carbon) and 45% have a medium content
(2-6% organic carbon). Organic matter decline is an issue in particular in
Southern Europe but parts of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, The
Netherlands and Sweden are also concerned.

Compaction: estimates of risk areas vary between 36% and 32% of
European subsoils being very vulnerable and 18% moderately so.

Salinisation - around 3.8 million ha in Europe are affected by the
accumulation of soluble salts. The most affected areas are Campania in Italy,
the Ebro Valley in Spain and the Great Alföld in Hungary.

Landslides tend to occur more frequently in areas with clayey
sub-soil, steep slopes, intense and abundant precipitation and land abandonment,
such as the Alpine and the Mediterranean regions.

Contamination: approximately 3.5 million sites may be potentially
contaminated. 0.5 million sites are expected to be really contaminated and need
remediation.

Sealing: the area of soil surface covered with an impermeable material
represents around 9% of the total area in Member States. Between 1990 and 2000,
the sealed area in EU15 increased by 6% and the demand for both new construction
and transport infrastructures due to increased urban sprawl continues to rise.

Why act at the EU level?

The 6th Community Environment Action
Programme[2] calls for the
development of a Thematic Strategy on soil protection. The Community
Institutions broadly welcomed the Commission's Communication entitled "Towards a
Thematic Strategy for Soil
Protection"[3], which triggered
off the debate on soil protection at EU level.

Action is required at EU level because:

Soil is a non renewable natural resource of common interest to Europe
because of the crucial functions it performs for society and the
ecosystems.

European environmental legislation is incomplete without soil policy,
hampering the objective to reach a high level of environmental protection in
Europe[4].

Differences among Member States in dealing with soil problems may distort
competition within the single market.

Most of the costs of soil degradation are not borne by the land users, who
are responsible for the degradation, but by the tax payers.

Soil degradation has transboundary consequences.

As soil contamination may affect the quality of food and feed products.

The health of the European population can be impaired as a result of soil
degradation.

Charters and conventions, of which the Community is a partner, have been
adopted to protect soil on a global scale.

However, existing EU legislation varies in scope and objective and does not
sufficiently address significant soil problems as it does not cover all soils
and does not address all soil threats. Moreover, since soil degradation
continues and is even getting worse, all this legislation is simply not
enough.

Why is the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy not enough?

Significant benefits can be expected from linking the direct payments
("cross-compliance") to farmers to the application of
‘soil-friendly’ agricultural practices. However, these measures are
not obligatory everywhere and they only apply to farmers who are under the
payment regimes, which is not the case for all types of farming activities.
Farmers who do not receive payments are not bound to adopt these soil-friendly
practices. Therefore, cross compliance will only partially contribute to the
preservation and sustainable use of soil.

Why act now?

Over the last few decades, there has been a significant increase in soil
degradation processes. These processes are likely to further accelerate if
nothing is done now to protect soil

In the European Union, only nine Member States have specific legislation on
soil protection, usually targeted at very specific threats, e.g. desertification
in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, contamination in the Netherlands, Germany
and Belgium (Flanders). Since soil degradation continues and is even getting
worse, this legislation is simply not enough.

What does the Thematic Strategy on soil protection contain?

The Strategy is made up of a Communication from the Commission to the other
EU Institutions, a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of
the Council and an Impact Assessment.

The Communication sets the frame. It explains why further action is
needed to ensure a high level of soil protection and what kind of measures must
be taken. It establishes a ten-year work program for the European
Commission.

The Directive is structured along three lines:

1 .Preventive measures – Member States must ensure a
sustainable use of soil. If soil is used in a way that hampers its functions,
mitigating actions must be undertaken. Other policies' impacts on soil must be
assessed.

2 Identification of the problem - Member States will identify the
areas where there is a risk of erosion, of decline in organic matter, of
salinisation, compaction, sealing, and landslides. As far as contamination is
concerned, they will set up an inventory of contaminated sites.

3. Operational measures - Member States will then have to act upon
the risks identified by adopting programmes of measures for the risk areas,
national remediation strategies for the contaminated sites and measures to limit
or mitigate sealing. However, they are free to decide upon the level of ambition
of their soil policy, to set their own targets and to decide how and by when to
achieve them.

The Impact Assessment contains an analysis of the
economic, social and environmental impacts of the different options that were
considered in the preparatory phase and of the measures finally retained.

What are the objectives of the strategy?

The Strategy's objective is to define a common and comprehensive approach,
focusing on the preservation of soil functions, based on the following
principles:

Preventing further soil degradation and preserving its
functions:

By acting on soil use and management patterns, when soil
is used and its functions are exploited,

By taking action at source, when soil acts as a sink/receptor of the effects
of human activities or environmental phenomena.

Restoring degraded soils to a level of functionality consistent at least
with current and intended use, thus also considering the cost implications of
the restoration of soil.

What is new about the strategy?

The strategy tackles the full range of threats to soil, in a comprehensive
and coherent way. It creates a common legal framework to ensure that EU soils
stay healthy for future generations and remain capable of supporting the
ecosystems on which our economic activities and our well-being depend.

It is one of the seven thematic strategies which the Commission is proposing.
They represent the next generation of environment policy, taking a global and
medium-term perspective, setting clear environment objectives and seeking to
identify the most appropriate instruments to achieve these objectives. They are
based on extensive research and consultation with stakeholders.

Why is a legally binding instrument needed?

The fragmented approach taken so far and the extent of the problem with the
attached significant off-site effects and costs to be borne by society
demonstrate that the absence of a focused policy approach has not been
sufficient to protect soil. Moreover, failure to protect soil will hamper any
effort undertaken to achieve the targets set by existing legislation in the area
of water, nature, climate change, biodiversity, human health and food safety.
Soil deserves the same level of protection as the other environmental media (air
and water), as it is the missing piece in the puzzle to manage environmental
media effectively.

Nevertheless, the Directive proposed by the Commission is flexible. It is
recognized that a “one-fit-all” approach would not work.

What impact will the strategy have on other EU
policies?

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive will be
revised. Its soil protection and contamination prevention aspects will be
strengthened.

The European Commission will assess Member States’ contributions under
cross compliance and will carry on monitoring closely the impact of rural
development and structural fund programmes on soil protection.

The Commission and the Member States will ensure that soil protection and
sustainable use are taken into account by sectoral policies (regional and urban
spatial planning, transport, energy, agriculture, rural development, forestry,
raw material extraction, trade and industry, tourism, climate change,
environment, nature and landscape, coastal integrated management).

The strategy will also have an impact on the EU Research policy. The proposed
Seventh Research Framework Programme (2007-2013) covers research into soil
functions in its “Environment” priority area, within the
‘Cooperation’ theme.

What are the current costs of soil degradation?

It is difficult to estimate those costs due to the lack of sufficient
quantitative and qualitative data but several studies point to significant
annual costs to society, in the ranges of:

erosion: €0.7 – 14.0 billion,

organic matter decline: €3.4 – 5.6 billion,

compaction: no estimate possible,

salinisation: €158 – 321 million,

landslides: up to €1.2 billion per event,

contamination: €2.4 – 17.3 billion,

sealing: no estimate possible,

biodiversity decline: no estimate possible.

Erosion, organic matter decline, salinisation, landslides and contamination
might be costing the EU up to €38 billion annually. As the costs of the
other threats could not be assessed, the real costs of soil degradation are
likely to exceed this estimate. The majority of these costs are borne by society

How much will it cost to implement the strategy?

The costs and benefits of the strategy are presented in full in the Impact
Assessment. They are mainly derived from:

identification of risk areas and of contaminated sites;

The
overall costs for the identification of risk areas are likely to be less than
€2 million per year for the whole of the EU. The costs for the first
five-year stage to establish an inventory of contaminated sites, based on a
preliminary inventory are estimated at about €51 million per year for the
whole of the EU. This first stage of the inventory will be followed by a series
of on site investigations to check if there is indeed a serious risk to human
health or the environment. These investigations might cost up to an upper
bound annual amount of €240 million during the full 25year period provided
for completing the inventory.

Establishing a system to identify the problem will allow the Member States to
address soil protection and combat soil threats systematically, effectively and
efficiently. They will be in a position to adopt more targeted and efficient
measures and to plan medium and long term strategies. By encouraging a
sustainable use of soil and taking a preventive approach, the Member States will
save costs which so far were borne by society. These benefits will by far
outweigh the additional costs of the Directive.

subsequent measures to combat the problems, to be taken by Member
States.

The proposed Directive requires Member States to take
specific measures to address soil threats but it is up to them to decide on risk
acceptability, to define targets and take measures to meet those targets. It is
therefore not possible to fully assess the environmental, economic and social
impacts impact of the proposed Directive at this stage. They could only be
described qualitatively.

Which sectors will be most affected and how will they benefit from the
strategy?

Society as a whole will benefit from the strategy as it bears the majority of
the costs of soil degradation. Individual land users will cease to suffer from
the direct consequences of soil degradation such as a loss of productivity, land
depreciation, the loss of land use possibilities and a loss of real estate
value.

The Directive does not establish who bears the costs of its implementation,
as this will be decided by each Member State. Depending on the funding schemes
they will adopt, costs will be borne in varying degrees by land users, economic
sectors, national budgets or the EU budget. The benefits are also to be shared
between the public administration, society at large and the economic operators
involved.

Not all costs will be incurred simultaneously and the distribution of costs
and benefits will not be even among Member States. Some threats are more
important in certain Member States than others and some Member States are more
advanced than others in combating soil degradation.

Has the Commission consulted widely on the strategy?

The Commission has extensively consulted stakeholders and the public. In
2003, it launched a wide public consultation, and subsequently set up a number
of working groups composed by experts from public administrations, agricultural,
industrial, and environmental and consumer organisations, science and research
institutes, and Commission services, as well as many other associations which
had European coverage and an interest in soil.

In 2004, the working groups published reports on the state of soils in
Europe, the pressures, the driving forces for soil degradation, together with a
set of recommendations addressed to the Commission. These reports are available
on the Internet at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/index.htm

91% of participating citizens and 90% of the experts and organisations
expressed the view that preventing and mitigating soil degradation in Europe is
important or very important. The vast majority of the respondents endorsed the
Commission's approach of creating a Framework at EU level for measures to be
taken at national or regional level (75% of citizens and 88% of experts and
organisations). A summary of the responses is presented in the Impact
Assessment, while a comprehensive report on the statistical analysis of all
questions is published on the internet at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/index.htm

What are the next steps?

The adoption of the Directive by the European Parliament and the Council
could take two years. Then the Member States will transpose it into national
legislation and start implementing it:

The general provisions of the Directive are into force from that moment
on.

Within five years after the transposition, they will have to identify risk
areas.

Within seven years, they will have to adopt targets and a programme of
measures to reach these targets and report to the European Commission.

Within five years, the Member States will also have to achieve a preliminary
inventory of contaminated sites.

Within seven years they have to establish a national remediation strategy in
order to manage their contaminated sites over the medium and long term. They
will establish a funding mechanism for the remediation of orphan sites, as well
as a soil status report.

Member States will ensure that the public
is given early and effective opportunities to participate in the preparation,
modification and review of the required programmes of measures on risk areas and
national remediation strategies.

As for the European Commission, it will:

promote improvement of knowledge and its dissemination, exchange of
information and best practices;

develop best practices to mitigate the negative effects of sealing;

prepare a Common Implementation Strategy for the Soil Framework Directive
and the other pillars of the strategy;

address the interaction between soil protection and climate change;

assess synergies with measures under the Water Framework Directive;

ensure integration of soil protection in product policy to prevent
contamination of soil;

ensure that the actions undertaken under this strategy are consistent with
initiatives taken under the UNCCD, the UNCBD, the Kyoto Protocol and the Alpine
Convention.